CONCERT REVIEW: Marah, Kids In Philly (Artemis / E-Squared)
- Daniel Aloi
Definition of pure professionalism for an indie band, slogging it out on tour: Forget the hype, the career moves, the road fatigue -- just put on a rocking show.
Marah ended a month-long zig-zag tour of the country just that way recently in Buffalo. Tired beyond the point of caring about their growing notoriety, they gave their all to a loving-it crowd at the Rust Belt city's dedicated roots-rock club, Mohawk Place. Such shows are worth driving three hours to see.
"We just did a tour with Gov't Mule -- great band, great guys... poor, poor planning!" guitarist/songwriter Serge Bielanko said. "Like, L.A. to New York in one day. Get there, boy!"
The band opened with a new unreleased song, "I Can't Hide," a powerhouse rocker full of Serge's and brother/lead singer Dave Bielanko's trademark imagery. Over the next few numbers, from their just-released album "Kids in Philly," their beloved city came alive -- "Christian Street," the good-time tour of "Point Breeze" and "The Catfisherman" (about dropping your line in an unsafe South Philadelphia neighborhood, something the Bielanko boys do regularly).
Lap steel player Mike Brenner is a monster, pulling a full horn section out of those strings, laying down funky, greasy backing thicker than any Memphis studio muscle could. The new rhythm section, bassist Joe Hooven and drummer Mick Bader, is a perfect fit with Marah's powerful swagger; they were energetic or subtle at all the right moments.
The band showed fine interpretive skills throughout the hourlong show. A Marah version of Lou Reed's "Can't Stand It" came fourth in the set. They worked The Who's "Magic Bus" into "The Catfisherman," and Brenner played Santo & Johnny's "Sleepwalk" as an intro to "Reservation Girl" (a great unreleased original, raging with desire and self-doubt; it's available on the band's Web site).
On "The History of Where Someone Has Been Killed," another gritty Philly snapshot, we all gladly took the hearing loss from Serge's psychedelic harmonica solo, which he later admitted was "our own little touch of Rolling Stones." The somewhat more acoustic "Faraway You" was a welcome change-up. For an encore, a surprise: The Replacements' "Can't Hardly Wait," letter-perfect and coming to a dead stop midsong, a funny pause for the musicians to walk around the stage, puff on smokes and swig their drinks (beer bottles in convenient holders on the mike stands).
Raised on Philadelphia radio stations like WMMR, the Bielankos were steeped in blue-collar rock, a strong influence on their inner-city songwriting and balls-out playing. Local content abounds on the new album, from the wistful acoustic "Barstool Boys" to the bopping "My Heart is the Bums on the Street." Radio personality Hy Lit has a cameo on "Christian Street," and Serge's lyrics for "Roundeye Blues" (which also nods to "Be My Baby") were inspired by a local writer's harrowing Vietnam memoir.
Shepherded by Steve Earle, their second album is a tour de force that absolutely defines Marah as a band that matters. Even more than their debut, "Philly" is filled with a sense of place, very much like Bruce Springsteen's early records.
Many comparisons have already been made between the Bielankos' Philly-centric imagery and such touchstones as The Wild The Innocent & the E Street Shuffle. They are admittedly huge fans -- the brothers saw the Boss at least seven times over the past year. Between albums, they covered "Streets of Philadelphia" live on WXPN's World Cafe as a stomping hootenanny; it's included on their "Point Breeze" single.
They can live with the critics, however, as long as no one says they're ripping anything off in their music.
And all of their dreams are coming true. They'd just been booked to play on Conan O'Brien, and Letterman was interested, Hooven said after the show. They had tour dates lined up with some of their heroes, including The Jayhawks and The Who, and there was a rumor of supporting Lou Reed.
Marah may be the greatest (and, as their bumper stickers say, "the last") rock'n'roll band in America. Even with that stated, I won't go so far as to say "I've seen rock and roll future." I've seen a band in love with rock and roll, and for that, they deserve glory.
For more information, check out http://www.marah-usa.com and http://www.artmeisrecords.com .
